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Week 8 [14-20.12.20] Art as investment

 


 

Due to the prolonged coronavirus pandemic, you can hear more and more about investing your savings. Some people buy currencies, cryptocurrencies, company stocks, real estate, and others buy art. I encourage you to watch a short video with an art expert from one of the auction houses and answer to the following questions.

1. Do you think an investment in art is a good investment?
2. If you were to buy a painting, what would you consider? Would you buy an image which you like? Or maybe you would just look at a painter's surname and think about return on investment in a dozen or so years?
3. For each of us, art has a different definition. What is art for you?

Comments

I find the commercialization of art to be fairly troubling. I feel like chaining art to market forces has a diminishing effect on it, where it increasingly becomes a commodity existing solely for the purpose of being purchased and consumed. Treating art as an investment vehicle goes a step further than even that, removing the consumption of it and only treating it as an abstract holder of financial value which is predicated on... what, exactly? The possibility that one day somebody might come by and wish to consume the art, and purchase it off of you? This seems like the same rent-seeking behavior which is ruining housing, though thankfully not leaving anyone homeless or forced to live in inhumane conditions this time around. Still, I find this ethically unsound and appalling. Art, like housing and most things really, should not be the vehicle of financial speculation and investment, lest it become functionally a financial instrument first and foremost, which makes access to its actual primary uses unnecessarily harder and more expensive.

There are many great painters whose work I adore, but in truth I'm completely satisfied with copies of their work, even mere digital ones. I don't think the original is in any way superior to a faithful copy, so giving it more value seems like nothing more than an odd romantic sentiment.

The problem of defining what art is has actually been haunting me for a long time. Most definitions I've come across were either suspiciously strict and seemingly conformed to only one culture or artistic canon, or they were so broad as to allow claiming that literally anything is art, which seems rather unhelpful. The only conclusion I've come to is that art must be like morality - a group of abstract ideas and values which are agreed upon by some group of people as moral or in this case, artistic. This, of course, has its own problems, as under this definition an artist only becomes an artist, and their work art, when a group of people comes to consider them such. Why should one's individual expression be bound by what society thinks of them? What if the work of someone is not recognized as art during their lifetime, but becomes so centuries after their death? Were they not artists in life, or did they become artists retroactively? I'm afraid I'm unable to truly resolve these issues, and am left with a flawed definition that nonetheless seems more apt to me than any alternative I've seen so far.
1. Do you think an investment in art is a good investment?

If I decided to invest in a good I wouldn't choose any art pieces. It's hard to predict which paintings or which surname will be next blockbuster. If I decide to invest my savings, I would prefer some property or company stocks. In my opinion, these are more stable and it's easier to liquidate. In case of crises people won't think firstly about art but about necessary needs. 

2. If you were to buy a painting, what would you consider? Would you buy an image which you like? Or maybe you would just look at a painter's surname and think about return on investment in a dozen or so years?

I'm not sure. If some painting adored me, I would probably decide to buy it for having a possibility to surround myself with this beauty. But being a rationalist oblige me to choose in this type of situation a painting which was created by famous painter.  

3. For each of us, art has a different definition. What is art for you?

Art is objective for all of us. It's not possible to define. For me, it's a pleasure to delightin a beauty of some activities like painting, sculpturing, dancing or singing. 
1. I have no idea if an investment in art is a good investment. I've never been interested in art. But I've heard that there are people who got rich on art, so maybe this is an interesting option to earn some extra money.

2. I would not do any of the things mentioned in the question. I believe that in my case it would be a waste of time and money. I prefer to invest my finances in a different and more reliable way, such as negotiated foreign deposits.
@Tadeusz Pawlonka Wow! A very detailed and interesting answer. It seems to me that I can agree with you almost completely. Art slowly becomes quite snobbish, which is why it is cut off from most of society. Fun fact: Maybe you've heard of the retiree's house on whose wall Banksy painted a picture? Its value has changed overnight from 300,000 pounds to over 2 million and, anticipating your question, yes, someone is willing to pay that amount of money.
Artur Król said…
1. Do you think an investment in art is a good investment?
I think it could be a good investment if you understand so called art. I have troubles understanding what an actual art is. Like I can see beauty and the effort put in some cases but when it comes to XXI art... That's a tough one. A red square is an art. That's something i can't understand but yeah. It's a good investment I guess

2. If you were to buy a painting, what would you consider? Would you buy an image which you like? Or maybe you would just look at a painter's surname and think about return on investment in a dozen or so years?
I actually bought a painting or more like a sketch as it's only black and white. I don't think it would get any value. I thought about it as something i would love to see on my wall. To see it more often. For now it awaits, safely hidden, just in case i were to destroy it ^^

3. For each of us, art has a different definition. What is art for you?
For me art is music. Paintings may be beautiful but i consider the sound as a real art.
1. Do you think an investment in art is a good investment?

First of all, a great topic, recently I have been thinking a lot about investing money - currency, flats, stocks ...
Yes, I think art is a very good form of investing money. Moreover, it is a very profitable form of investment. You just need to find a good niche and the right author. Unfortunately, these types of investments are rather long-term, only after some time can the painting / sculpture be sold, but usually with a very large profit.

2. If you were to buy a painting, what would you consider? Would you buy an image which you like? Or maybe you would just look at a painter's surname and think about return on investment in a dozen or so years?

When buying a painting, I would have a pragmatic approach, I would choose something that I liked and would be valuable at the same time. I look at art as an investment but also an indicator of how our lives are changing. It is enough to look at how the definition of art has changed over the years to understand that these paintings, sculptures have something amazing, a hidden history.

3. For each of us, art has a different definition. What is art for you?

As I mentioned above, art is treated as a form of investment, but I am aware that it is a kind of heritage of generations. Art visualizes the changes that have occurred throughout the existence of the world.

Thank you for participating in the discussion, Daniel. Since you were interested in various forms of investing money, maybe you remember the name of the author who you think the art will be worth more in the future?
Artur, I personally believe that there is no such thing as a lack of understanding of art. You just like something else. You just need to find an area of more specific interest and I'm sure this will be a new definition of art for you.
1. Do you think an investment in art is a good investment?
Honestly I have never thought about it, but I think it is very risky because you never know if your investment will be successful.
I think there should be a very good commercial, especially for art.

2. If you were to buy a painting, what would you consider? Would you buy an image which you like? Or maybe you would just look at a painter's surname and think about return on investment in a dozen or so years?
I have never bought a painting as I am not interested in it. Maybe I would buy it as a gift if I know that person like it. However me personally not interested.

3. For each of us, art has a different definition. What is art for you?
Art for me is something aesthetic, beautiful. Music, painting, fashion and etc is art for me.
1. Do you think an investment in art is a good investment?
I really not an expert in buying or selling art but I've heard many times that some arts can be purchased millions of dollars and that most of them always increase their values with time, for example JAY-Z's lyrics says: "Financial freedom my only hope, F livin' rich and dyin' broke, I bought some artwork for one million, Two years later, that S worth two million, Few years later, that S worth eight million, I can't wait to give this S to my children".

2. If you were to buy a painting, what would you consider? Would you buy an image which you like? Or maybe you would just look at a painter's surname and think about return on investment in a dozen or so years?
I think I will buy art depending on what I'm planning for it, if I'm buying it as an investment I will definitely by the one with a name that can bring return on my investment, but if I'm rich and want some art for my house or some other place I will buy the one that looks good to me because I know that there some art that I find really ugly but for some reasons there are acknowledged as masterpiece and are expensive.

3. For each of us, art has a different definition. What is art for you?
I can describe an art as something which is created and entertaining.

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